WITHOUT our hordes of volunteers, which come from all over the country, running Didcot Railway Centre would not be possible.

The centre can only be brought to life by the people who so generously give up their time to make this a fantastic place for all ages.

When we have our big events, such as the Steam Gala this bank holiday, we need all hands on deck to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Our volunteers do everything from driving the trains to gardening, from social media to French polishing.

I know some have a real passion for helping restore our locomotives and there's always the task of record keeping and admin to be taken care of, which is not quite as glamorous.

We have some local volunteers but many come from far and wide.

At Easter they travelled from as far away as Humberside, Bristol and the Isle of Wight.

It is everyone's dream to drive a steam engine and one of our volunteers, Phil Morrell, realised it had been 11 years since he took his first first ever footplate ride at the centre.

Now he has been an active volunteer with us for seven years and we hope he will stay with us for many more.

Phil has always been fascinated by steam trains and decided, while at college, to start helping us and progress up the ranks.

Like all our steam engine drivers, Phil started volunteering as a shunter, which is someone that guides engines around the centre and attaches them to the carriages.

After passing his shunter exams with flying colours, he trained as a steam engine fireman and a diesel driver.

Phil was the fireman when the brand new engine, Tornado, visited the centre over the Easter holidays - which was a treat for us all.

We were slightly disappointed, mind you, that the Top Gear presenters were not in tow.

But for Phil the day was even more special when the driver on Tornado was the same driver he had on his first footplate ride.

Our volunteers are not only special for their talents and hard work, but they also bring life and enthusiasm which makes the centre such a wonderful place to work.

We currently have several ongoing restoration projects, which sees volunteers with all skills and backgrounds coming together.

We are hoping the 1014 County of Glamorgan will be finished by the end of this year with project leader, Mike Cooper at the helm.

Last year we estimated that they gave 40,000 hours of voluntary effort, equivalent to £250,000 at minimum wage rates.

And Marmalade certainly appreciates all the attention she gets from our volunteers - if only she could be as useful, instead of lounging around in the sun.

We are always on the look out for volunteers, so if you would like to get in touch visit our website: didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk